The Legacy

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 2006-10-10

Labels: Jet Star, Unity

℗2006 ©2006


Working with a whole stable of artists that includes Johnny Clarke, Cornel Campbell, Delroy Wilson, Jackie Edwards, Owen Grey, as well as musicians like Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis, Jackie Mitoo, Winston Wright, Earl "Chinna" Smith and virtually all the DJs of the time including U Roy, I Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Big Joe, Trinity, Dillinger, Tapper Zukie and Jah Stich, Lee cut thousands of records during the 1970s, most of them subjected to a Tubby's mix, and with some rhythms recycled over and over again. Among their earliest collaborations together were the albums 'The Roots of Dub', followed by 'Dub From The Roots' a few months later. These were the only King Tubby albums that were actually conceived as albums and tracks from the pair that take up the first CD here. 'The Roots of Dub' recordings feature a stripped down form of dub as its most skeletal, while the 'Dub From The Roots' sessions make more use of horns and other instrumentation flying in and out of the mix. Most of the rhythms are familiar Bunny Lee fare, and the tracks he would use time and again with alternative vocal, DJ, instrumental and dub versions. There are the rhythms he used for Cornel Campbell's reworking of Studio 1 lines on Alexander Henry's 'Please Be True', Delroy Wilson's 'I Shall Not Remove' and his own 'Stars', tor Horace Andy's 'Love of A Woman' and 'Something On My Mind', Jackie Edwards' 'Ali Baba' and Johnny Clarke's take on the Abyssinians' 'Declaration Of Rights' and John Holt's Treasure Isle classic 'Stealing'. The two albums are subtly mixed compared to later efforts and the sturdy rhythms add up to among the very best King Tubby's albums of them all.

The second CD here opens with Tommy McCook's stirring revival of 'Riding West', originally released on disco mix by Third World in the late 1970s and the rest of the set continues in a similar vein. The next five tracks were originally issued on the 1977 UK based Justice label as the second side of a Tommy McCook album entitled simply 'Instrumental', while the last nine tracks come from the same artist's 'Cookin" LP from 1975. In between, most of the titles originated on the 'Bobby Ellis and The Professionals Meet the Revolutionaries' album released by Third World in 1977. Among the rhythms used are John Holt's popular takes on soul tunes like 'You'll Never Find', 'I Forgot To Say I Love You' and 'In The Springtime', Johnny Clarke's 'You Have Caught Me and h1s duet with Derek Morgan on a thrashing version of the Blues Busters' 'Behold', as well as cuts of Cornel Campbell's 'Duke Of Earl' and Talking Love', Owen Grey's 'Bongo Natty' and Delroy Wilson's Striker Lee recut of his Studio One favourite 'True Believer'. The whole CD is a saxophone and trumpet dominated mix featuring the whole spectrum of Agrovators styles from the early flying cymbals effect to the later jumpers and ticklers mixes.

A Jackie Mittoo album entitled 'Showcase' originally released towards the late 1970s constitutes the opening nine tracks of the third CD here and begins with the declamatory 'Death In The Arena' revisited as 'Champion Of The Arena', before revisiting updates of material first recorded by the keyboardist at Studio One a decade earlier on tracks like 'Wicked Destroyer Dub' based on 'Darker Shade Of Black'/'Norwegian Wood', 'Hot Milk' for 'Hot Roots Dub' or 'The Magnificent Drum Song', one of Mittoo's most plag1ansed rhythms. The following 15 dub tracks are originated from various sources, there's Leroy Smart's 'Trying To Wreck Up My Life' for the 'Bionic Horn Dub', Jah Stitch and Johnny Clarke's take on Bob Marley's 'Crazy Baldhead' on 'Crazy Dub', as well as dubs of two of the same singer's biggest hits, 'Move Out Of Babylon' and 'None Shall Escape The Judgement' plus mixes of Cornel Campbell's 'Stalowatt' and a thunderous version of Little Roy's 'Tribal War' to bring the side to its close.

The last of the CDs constitutes a wide range of dubs, some of which like 'Liquidation Dub', a version of Dennis Alcapone's 'Shake It Up', 'Musical Liquidator' and based of course on the famous Harry J instrumental, I can find no trace of ever being issued before now. I can help with the first track though. 'Hands Of limes Dub' is an instrumental featuring lead guitar from Earl "Chinna" Smith and was originally released on that artist's sumptuous 'Sticky Fingers' album back in the 1970s. There's a selection of Delroy Wilson dubs as well, of 'Get Ready', 'You'll Lose A Good Thing', 'You Must Believe Me' and 'Hey Girl Don't Bother Me'. There's Cornel Campbell's 'Wherever I Lay My Hat', Derrick Morgan's 'Soldier Man', Gregory Isaacs' 'Storm', Johnny Clarke on Carlton and His Shoes' 'Love Me Forever' and Bob Marley's 'Nice Time' and 'Hypocrites'.

More Pictures